Word Hunt Fun!





We had so much fun being word detectives this week!  I needed an active learning activity for the class before our presentation on dental health.  I don't know why I have never thought of doing this before.  It was the PERFECT 30 minute activity!  I got this idea from Pinterest, of course!  A home school mom had done this with her boys using numbers.  Here is the link to her post on the number hunt if you are interested: Number Hunt Fun (www.makingboysmen) 
Thanks Hannah!

 It seemed a perfect fit to use sight words for my bright little Kinder students.  I must admit, I did not quite expect the enthusiasm that I was greeted with when I told the class that they were going to be "word detectives."  They were so excited and joyful as they set to the task of discovering all ten of the hidden words outside in the yard.  They needed to write each one on to their list to prove that they had found it and then they read each word on the list as they turned it in to an adult. 

We used little clipboards so writing outdoors was easy.  It was a beautiful morning, and smiles were abundant from students and teachers!  Aahhhh, life is good- happy students, happy teacher!  We will definitely do this activity again.

Just a couple more photos-










I now have a set of laminated word cards on big craft sticks for the future.  It didn't take long at all to make them.  This will be a permanent addition to my "bag of tricks" for future sunny days.
Hope you try this with your little darlings.


Just added:

Here is a FREE recording sheet just the right size for the little half sheet clip boards like the one in the photo above.  I have had requests from students to do this activity again, so I made this  for the second go around and wanted to share it.  Just click on the image or the link below.  It will take you to TPT to get the document.  Enjoy!



Happy Teaching!

Happy Valentine's Day!


We had a sweet and simple Valentine's Day celebration in the classroom this year.  Lots of love going around!  We delivered valentines, played a fun bingo game, and made our love lists.  Then we got to open cards and enjoy a few treats.  The kiddos had music and art today before going home.  It was a great day!


This year I gave my sweeties a bubble wand with a little heart card attached.  I LOVE glitter.  So, I had to share the glitter love on Valentine's day.


This is a 100 activity that we did last week.  It is perfect for this time of year.  The teacher calls out the numbers needed in a random order.  The students discover the surprise design as they get closer and closer to the end.  You can differentiate this activity by how you introduce the number.  For many students, just finding the number on a hundreds chart is challenge enough.  For kids that are ready, you can ask them to find the number that is one less than, one more than, etc.  If you have worked on place value enough at this point in the year, you can tell them to find the number with 9 tens and 5 ones.  There are lots of ways to make the number prompt more challenging.  This activity can be done with many designs and is a good one to re-visit through out the year.

This is another Valentine's themed art we did for the February calendar that went home earlier this month.  The hand and wrist was traced and cut out and glued onto the paper.  The heart stamps were done with toilet paper tubes folded and taped to make a heart shape!  I got this idea from a pin by teach preschool.org.  You can check out her blog by clicking on this link: www.teachpreschool.org
Thanks Deborah!

Here is that love list we did:

It is a great writing prompt.  For kindergarten kids, a list is often easier to tackle than a narrative, especially on Valentine's day.  I feel lucky that I got them doing academics at all.  If you would like to use this love list activity in your classroom, you can get it in my TPT store.  It's FREE!!!  Just spreading the love for Valentine's day!  You can click on the link or image below to go get it:




Last but not least, we did this heart graph activity the day before.  We have a policy at our school to only have sweets once per month, so I don't do many lessons that use candy.  Besides, I think conversation hearts taste awful!  If you are going to eat sugar, make it the good stuff!  This is a great alternative to the conversation heart graphs that you see everywhere....




This is also a FREEBIE in my TpT store!  It comes with two sets of colored hearts and both a colored and black & white graph.  Click on the image above or the link above to get it.  Enjoy!

Hope you all had a great Valentine's day!
xoxoxoxox

Happy Teaching!

100 Days of School!



We have been getting ready for the 100th day of school in our classroom.  We have been counting by 10s, by 5s, and by 1s to 100.  We have been learning what 100 looks like.  We have been exploring 100 in many ways...


A yummy activity to practice counting to 100 by tens.  If you would like to do this activity with your class, you can find it at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Just click on the link or image below:


Count-by-10-ice-cream-fun

 

A class quilt to practice counting to 100 by fives.  The kids were so excited about this when they came to school and it was all put together and up in the room.  They spontaneously broke out into a chant counting.  It was wonderful!


This activity really helped solidify the concept that ten groups of ten make 100 for my little students.  I got this idea from a pin that originally came from For the Love of Kindergarten http://kindergartenfreckleteacher.blogspot.com/2012/02/this-week-in-pictures-and-links-2-62-10.html
She has some other fun ideas for 100 and lots of other cool stuff going on in her class last February.  This was my take on the paint dots idea.  Thanks Cindy!  If you would like to get the printable shown in the photo above along with all sorts of other goodies for your class, you can get it here: Print and Go! 100 Days Math and Literacy (NO PREP).


You can also do the dot painting this way too.  It's fun to make 100 gumballs.  This sheet is also in my Print and Go! 100 Days Math and Literacy (NO PREP) .  All you have to do is make copies, put out the paint, and you're done!  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

We did the 100s chart puzzles a few days before the actual 100th day.  I made them in several colors so that the kids could keep track of their pieces easier.  And so that our bulletin board will be more colorful.  Ha ha!


This is one of the activities the kids did independently on the 100th day.  Small groups worked together collaboratively to build a structure with 100 blocks.  Looks Great!


Another activity that kids had to do independently and collaboratively was to find the 100 hearts hidden around the classroom.  They found all but three and worked together to put them in order.  They needed 71, 84, and 86.  They were hidden in the felt board area in the bag with the felt shapes.  Tricky!  The hearts are tipped because they were too pointy to stand straight in the pocket chart.  Speaking of pocket charts, in this photo, mine sure looks old.  Maybe it is time for a new one...

We also had a center for the kids to make a bag with 100 snacks.  Some teachers call this activity a trail mix.  I call it snacks.  We do a very simple version of it.  I put each of the ten snacks out on a table.  Students each have a baggie with their name written on it.  They take turns going to each of the snacks and counting out 10 into the baggie.  The kiddos were so excited to eat it at recess.  Yippee!

Each child got to make a special 100s day hat with 100 stickers on it.  They look so cute wearing the hats in the classroom.  Fun!

The most challenging activity of our 100th day was writing about what you would do if you had $100.  Most of my students this year decided to spend it.  One or two decided to save it.  One little boy said he would give it to his family.  I thought that was sooooo sweet!

Here are a couple of interesting ones:

"I would buy a peecok."


"I would bi a hol oshin!"


I love the kids' drawing and writing!  So cute.  This prompt is so fun to see what their ideas are about.  I do this every year for the 100th day.

UPDATE JANUARY 2015:
This year, I finally made the time to create all my favorite activities for the 100th day in  a time saving, black and white ink saving, Print and Go! pack.   If you are looking for some new things or some oldies but goodies that have cute graphics and simple layouts for young students, you should go check it out.  (Just click on the image below to go get it.)  I hope you have a wonderful 100th day celebration with your sweeties!


Happy 100th day!
Happy teaching!